Kilcoy Global’s new Sunshine Coast factory

Premium beef producer Kilcoy Global Foods Australia is to invest $50 million in a new food production facility on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast according to media reports.

The Chinese-owned company, which distributes six beef brands to local and international food service and retail customers, will open the factory by the end of 2022 and create 300 new jobs in Caloundra’s Corbould park estate.

Kilcoy president Jiah Falcke told ABC: “We can either sit and complain [about high Australian cattle prices, tough processing margins and global volatility] or we can innovate and grow.

“The world is evolving, experiences are changing, labour is contracting, food service businesses don’t have the labour.”

The investment decision comes as the company attempts to reverse an import ban imposed on it by China in 2020, forcing a business rethink.

Domestic sales now account for 28 per cent of sales, South Korea 24 per cent followed by Japan and the USA.

In 2013, the New Hope Investment Fund acquired the Kilcoy Pastoral Company and invested $120 million in upgrades and expansions.

The New Hope Group is owned by Liu Yonghao and his family, and were rated number 69 on the Forbes China Rich list in 2021.

Picture: Kilcoy Global Foods Australia

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